Archive for June, 2013

A campaign to raise funds for a feature-length documentary is underway. “After68: The Rise and Fall of the Ambassador Hotel” tells the story of the famed site, said the film’s director and producer Camilo Silva. In 2005 the landmark hotel on Wilshire Blvd. became one of the most historically significant and iconic U.S. buildings of the […]

As community branch manager at the Wilshire Library, Madeleine Ildefonso hopes to blow people’s minds about what the library is about. “Librarianship has changed so much in the past 20 years,” said the 42-year-old Koreatown resident who’s been at the helm of the St. Andrew’s Place branch since April. “The functions of libraries have changed, […]

When Wayne and Marilyn Thomas purchased an unrestored 1913 Model T Ford, Touring Model in 1980, little did they know they’d someday drive it throughout Europe. But the retired Windsor Square couple—she a teacher, he the owner of a package design business—did just that after joining the Model T Ford Club of Southern California. Restoration […]

Southern California’s population exploded in the 1950s, demand for homes and mortgages surged and the savings and loans industry flourished. At the heart of this financial boom was Howard F. Ahmanson. The cigar smoking, Omaha native helped millions of regular folks own their own home, and he would spend his riches expanding the city’s cultural […]

George Epstein has taught engineering courses at UCLA and for NASA, and he developed military defense systems for the Air Force, Navy and Army. These days he’s become a master at poker. After giving a talk on the merits of the game, he was asked to teach at the Claude Pepper Senior Center in 2005. […]